MSI R6850 Cyclone Review

By Nimish Sawant

15-11-2011

Nimish Sawant

Digit Rating: Good

3.5/5

Features:

Performance:

Value:

Design:

PROS

Factory overclocked
Brilliant open fan design

CONS

None

MRP: 9900

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Summary

This is the best AMD card under Rs.10,000 although we would like to see the price drop further. Frame rates are great for the cost. An open frame design ensures that the load temperature is under 60 degrees C.

Review

Features: MSI R6850 Cyclone is the factory overclocked version of the HD 6850. MSI has souped it up by 85 MHz which is a significant rise from the core clock of 775 MHz.

Design and Build: MSI R6850 has a very unique design. There is no shroud to speak of, the aluminium circular heatsink is placed in the centre, on top of which lies the fan. Two heat pipes follow the curve of the circular heat sink. The metal branding on top of the heat sink makes this card look wonderful.

Performance: As it belongs to MSI's Cyclone edition, scores are expected to be on the higher side. While it is considerably higher than the GTX 550Ti it is still nowhere close to GTX 560Ti or GTX 560. Dirt3 and FarCry2 can be played comfortably even at 1920x1200. Thanks to the intricate heatsink and fan design, its load temperature is around 58 degrees C with a temperature delta of just 16 degrees which is even better than the lower specced HD 6770.

Refer to the gallery to view benchmarks, as well as the below table.

Verdict: This is the best AMD card under Rs.10,000 although we would like to see the price drop further. Frame rates are great for the cost. An open frame design ensures that the load temperature is under 60 degrees C.

Score Out of 100: 63.27

Price: Rs.9,900

*Features, Specs, Scores*
Brand Model	MSI HD6850
Type of memory / Memory Clock (MHz)	DDR5 / 1100
Core / Shader Clock (MHz)	860 / NA
No. of Stream Processors	960
Memory size (MB) / Memory Interface	1024 / 256-bit
Connects on card	2xDVI-D, HDMI, Display Port
Accessories provided	DVI to D-Sub, 6pin power adapter, Crossfire Bridge, Driver CD
Game Provided	N
Synthetic Benchmarks
3D Mark 11 (Overall)	5834
3D Mark 11 (Graphics)	6056
Unigine Heaven v2.5 (1680x1050, 4xAF, Max Shader, Extreme Tesellation) Score	630
Unigine Heaven v2.5 (1680x1050, 4xAF, Max Shader, Extreme Tesellation) Frame rate	25
Temperature (Load)	58
Temperature (Idle)	42
Game Benchmarks
FarCry 2 (1280x1024, Ultra High, No AA) Avg	103.6
FarCry 2 (1680x1050, Ultra High, No AA) Avg	91.42
FarCry 2 (1920x1080, Ultra High, No AA) Avg	84.91
FarCry 2 (1280x1024, Ultra High, 4xAA) Avg	90.41
FarCry 2 (1680x1050, Ultra High, 4xAA) Avg	78.41
FarCry 2 (1920x1080, Ultra High, 4xAA) Avg	72.1
S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat (Day, 1680x1050, No AA, DX11, Ultra Detail) Avg	91.7
S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat (Day, 1680x1050, 4x AA, DX11, Ultra Detail) Avg	64.6
S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat (Day, 1920x1080, 4xAA, DX11, Ultra Detail) Avg	57.6
Resident Evil (1680x1050, 4xAA, Motion Blur on)	110.1
Resident Evil (1920x1080, 4xAA, Motion Blur on)	99.7
Crysis Warhead (1280x1024, DX10, Med) Avg	74
Crysis Warhead (1680x1050, DX10, Med) Avg	66
Crysis Warhead (1680x1050, DX10, Very High) Avg	31
Crysis Warhead (1920x1080, DX10, Very High) Avg	28
Dirt 3 (1280x1024, No AA, Details Medium) Avg	116.5
Dirt 3 (1680x1050, No AA, Details Medium) Avg	103.06
Dirt 3 (1920x1080, No AA, Details Medium) Avg	94.14
Dirt 3 (1280x1024, 4x AA, Details High) Avg	102.44
Dirt 3 (1680x1050, 4x AA, Details High) Avg	87.01
Dirt 3 (1920x1080, 4x AA, Details High) Avg	80.55
Crysis 2 (1920x1080 Hardcore)	42.82
Crysis 2 (1680x1050 Hardcore)	48.59